Insurance claims arise in a variety of contexts, including insurance coverage for individuals, or personal lines, such as personal property coverage and personal automotive coverage, as well as business insurance coverage. Examples of categories of business insurance coverage include claims relating to employee injuries, including workers compensation claims, short term disability claims and long term disability claims. These types of claims are often underwritten by insurance companies, or are self-insured by large employers. The costs associated with these claims for insurance companies and self-insuring employers include the cost of medical services provided to injured employees, and income replacement payments provided to employees during a period when the employees are unable to perform their customary job duties.
While insurance provides for medical expenses and partial replacement of lost income, generally regardless of responsibility for the injury, in some cases, another party is legally responsible for the injury. For example, in the event of an automobile accident, an individual insured driver or an employee of an insured business may be injured. If the negligence of another driver caused the automobile accident, then the insurance company or, in the case of the injured employee, a self-insuring employer, may be entitled to subrogation. By subrogration, the insurance company or self-insured employer stands in the shoes of the injured individual and can seek civil damages or a settlement from the negligent party, or the negligent party's insurer. Similarly, in the event of a claim for covered property damage, the property owner's insurance coverage may pay a claim to cover the cost of repairs, but then seek subrogation against a responsible party.
A wide variety of factual circumstances may give rise to a right in the insurance company or self-insured employer to subrogation. For example, an employee may be injured as a result of malfunctioning equipment. The malfunction may result from defective design or manufacture of the equipment or a part, or incorrect maintenance by a contractor. Similarly, property of an insured individual may be damaged as a result of defective manufacture or maintenance of such items as household appliances, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and other items.
If a claim handler identifies that a claim may be suitable for subrogation, the claim handler refers the claim to an insurance claims recovery operation of the insurance company. However, the claim handler may not accurately identify all claims that have subrogation potential, thereby resulting in an absence of subrogation recovery. For example, the claim handler may be provided with rules such as excluding all injuries of certain types from consideration for subrogation. On the other hand, if a claim handler refers to a claims recovery operation excessive numbers of claims with little or no subrogation potential, the resources of the claims recovery operation are misdirected to review of those low potential referred claims.
Systems and methods that provide for superior identification of subrogation opportunities would be desirable.